Measure for Measure (Wordsworth Classics) (Paperback)

~ William Shakespeare (Author) "Measure for Measure is one of the best of Shakespeare's plays, though it has not always received the appreciation it deserves..." (more)
Key Phrases: good friar, Lord Angelo, Master Froth, Exit Provost (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

'well-balanced, intelligent, and slightly detached from the play and its issues' J.G. Saunders, Review of English Studies, Vol. 45, No. 177, Feb, 1994


"Professor Bawcutt has produced an edition that should flourish in the classroom. The introduction is both thorough and user-friendly, while the notes consistently promote clear explication. Overall the edition is crisp, efficient, and illuminating."--Ronald J. Boling, Lyon College


`The introduction is quite informative and sensible, the text accurate and handsome, the notes solicitous enough to sustain a beginning student and deep enough to support scholarly uses ... another good edition of the play: highly learned, handsome, accurate, and fair-minded.' Robert N. Watson, Shakespeare Quarterly, Summer '93 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description

Edited, introduced and annotated by Cedric Watts, Research Professor of English, University of Sussex In the hope of saving her brother's life, should a woman submit to rape? Should the law be respected when its administrator is corrupt? How powerful in the state should religion become? Although Measure for Measure ends like a comedy, with reconciliations, forgiveness and marriages, it has often been regarded as one of Shakespeare's problem plays. The drama shows the difficulty of effecting an appropriate balance between judicial severity and mercy, between sexual repression and decadence, and between political vigilance and social manipulation. These problems remain topical, and, in Measure for Measure, they are given immediacy by vivid character-conflicts and memorably intense poetry. This is one of Shakespeare's most probing and powerful works.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd (December 5, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 185326251X
• ISBN-13: 978-1853262517
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,114,126 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Base Look at Love, Honor, Morality, Reputation, and the Law!, September 25, 2001

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 93,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)

This review is from: Measure for Measure (Mass Market Paperback)

Measure for Measure is seldom read, and not often performed in the United States. Why? Although many of Shakespeare's plays deal bluntly with sexual issues, Measure for Measure does so in an unusually ugly and disgusting way for Shakespeare. This play is probably best suited for adults, as a result.

I see Measure for Measure as closest to The Merchant of Venice in its themes. Of the two plays, I prefer Measure for Measure for its unremitting look at the arbitrariness of laws, public hypocrisy and private venality, support for virtue, and encouragement of tempering public justice with common sense and mercy.

The play opens with Duke Vincentio turning over his authority to his deputy, Angelo. But while the duke says he is leaving for Poland, he in fact remains in Vienna posing as a friar. Angelo begins meting out justice according to the letter of the law. His first act is to condemn Claudio to death for impregnating Juliet. The two are willing to marry, but Angelo is not interested in finding a solution. In despair, Claudio gets word to his sister, the beautiful Isabella, that he is to be executed and prays that she will beg for mercy. Despite knowing that Isabella is a virgin novice who is about to take her vows, Angelo cruelly offers to release Claudio of Isabella will make herself sexually available to Angelo. The Duke works his influence behind the scenes to help create justice.

Although this play is a "comedy" in Shakespearean terms, the tension throughout is much more like a tragedy. In fact, there are powerful scenes where Shakespeare draws on foolish servants of the law to make his points clear. These serve a similar role of lessening the darkness to that of the gravediggers in Hamlet.

One of the things I like best about Measure for Measure is that the resolution is kept hidden better than in most of the comedies. As a result, the heavy and rising tension is only relieved right at the end. The relief you will feel at the end of act five will be very great, if you are like me.

After you read this play, I suggest that you compare Isabella and Portia. Why did Shakespeare choose two such strong women to be placed at the center of establishing justice? Could it have anything to do with wanting to establish the rightness of the heart? If you think so, reflect that both Isabella and Portia are tough in demanding that what is right be done. After you finish thinking about those two characters, you may also enjoy comparing King Lear and Claudio. What was their fault? What was their salvation? Why? What point is Shakespeare making? Finally, think about Angelo. Is he the norm or the exception in society? What makes someone act like Angelo does here? What is a person naturally going to do in his situation?

Look for fairness in all that you say and do!

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Shakespeare's most underrated, January 30, 2002

By	Kellyannl (Bronx, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Measure for Measure (Mass Market Paperback)

In this somewhat disturbing classic, we have characters in almost as much a dilemma as Hamlet himself. Claudio, a young man, has gotten his fiance pregnant before their wedding. Unfortunately for Claudio, the local Duke is out of town finding himself, and in his stead is Angelo - a stickler for the rules, although he's far from squeaky clean himself. The said rules in this case, although obscure, call for execution.

Enter Isabella, Claudio's sister - a novice nun - to plead his case. Incredibly, Angelo starts to have some not-very-nice thoughts, and soon enough he's telling her he'll let Claudio go - if she spends the night with him!

In modern times one might think this reprehensible but a no-brainer - most sisters aren't going to let their brothers die young if there's anything they can do about it even if they are convent bound. But consider that in Shakespeare's time Isabella's soul would have been very much at issue.

So we have Isabella's soul and Claudio's life at stake, and there's still no word from the deadbeat Duke! Will something happen before time runs out?

Angelo is one of Shakespeare's most interesting villains, knowing that he's setting himself up to go straight to hell but still not able to stop himself. Isabella has to deal with a problem that makes those of many other Shakespearean heroines seem like child's play. As for Claudio - his prison monologue, where he starts off trying to be brave for Isabella but ends up as frightened as anyone in his predicament would be when human nature kicks in - is as powerful a tour de force as Clarence's scene in Richard III.

Not to be missed by Shakespeare fans.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A masterwork full of ideas and indelible characters, February 16, 2005

By	Craig Matteson (Ann Arbor, MI) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Measure for Measure (Arden Shakespeare Second) (Paperback)

While not one of Shakespeare's transcendent achievements, "Measure for Measure" is very much a masterwork. While easy to read and to follow, it actually has a vast number of moral complexities that challenge us to think about our own humanity, our sense of justice and charity, and the ways in which even the best among us are so easily compromised.

The title, of course, comes from the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 7:2 says: For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. While the surface reading of this verse seems to be talking about judging righteousness or evil (and it is that), it goes much deeper. It is also choosing one thing over another and the necessity of harvesting what those choices unavoidably bring.

This play is inhabited by many strange characters that exhibit all sorts of self-contained contradictions. The Duke of a very decadent Vienna who decrees that extra-marital relations will be punished by death, who is uncomfortable with public adulation, who spends most of the play disguised as a Friar. He is not called the Duke of Dark Corners for nothing. Poor Claudio is arrested and sentenced to die because is beloved Juliet is about to give birth to their child. This while the bawd Pompey is arrested and let off without even being whipped. Angelo, who is certainly no angel, is put in temporary power by the Duke during his time away from court. It is Angelo who has Claudio arrested and sentenced.

Isabelle, Claudio's sister, is about to take her vows as a nun, but comes to plead for her brother. Angelo says he will spare Claudio if she will let Angelo take her chastity. She refuses, but consents to the Friar's plan to ensnare Angelo. This is says nothing about Lucio and his being on all sides of every situation in the play.

While I admire all the Arden editions, this play has a particularly fine opening essay especially when it comes to the character and qualities discussed in the play. The editor provides us insight to how our modern sensibilities will mislead us and keep us from seeing the Elizabethan issues being worked out during the play.

The Appendices offer multiple versions of the source material for this play. Some of which it is suspected that Shakespeare used or was used by those who created the materials that Shakespeare used. It is a fascinating subject, especially when one notes the differences between the sources and the shape Shakespeare finally gave the plot. It is indeed a very different play.

I think the editor, J.W. Lever, makes a great point that this should be considered a drama of ideas rather than being included in that cloudy category of "Problem Plays" that so many scholars use as a catch all for those plays that aren't completely comedies and are certainly not tragedies like Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, or Lear.

Strongly Recommended